Difficulties of the doughty discus thrower

Gold at Glasgow. Next stop, Rio? And will a nation that is exulting about Vikas Gowda’s gold medal at the Commonwealth Games put its money where its mouth is?

Vikas Shive Gowda is the biggest star to have ever risen in the pantheon of Indian sports. Literally. At a towering 6 feet 9 inches and a weighty 240lbs, he has a physical profile worthy of a mighty Mahabharata hero. But it is not a mace or a bow and arrow he wields. The two kg (4.4lbs) lenticular disc that he cups in his palm before he spins around a circle to hurl it afar constitutes an event called discus throw. The sport is as old as the Mahabharata itself, going back to at least 708 B.C when it was part of the ancient Greek pentathlon. It is aesthetically commemorated in a 5th century sculpture called Discobolus by the Greek sculptor Myron, a copy of which is in the Palazzo Massimi alle Terme, the National Museum of Rome.

Awe-inspiring though, it is not the history of the sport that is of any great interest to the 31-year old Mysore-born Vikas Gowda, who grew up in the United States (in Frederick, Maryland) and graduated from the University of North Carolina (UNC), in Chapel Hill. It is the science and precision surrounding the sport, starting with the dimensions of the disc that is made of wood, fiberglass, or carbon fiber, with a metal rim and a metal core aimed at attaining the exact weight to the milligram. To hurl the disc, the thrower typically stands in a circle that is two and half meter in diameter, facing AWAY from the direction he is throwing. He then whirls around counterclockwise (for the right handed) in one graceful, fluid motion, to generate momentum from the torque before releasing the discus, with the aim of landing it as far as possible. The discus must descend within a 34.92 degree V. Besides technique and temperament, trajectory and aerodynamics of the discus are factors that determine the distance one can throw. That single, fluid motion lasting a few seconds involves both speed and grace that does not come easy to big men.

Just as well that Gowda graduated with a degree in math at UNC after breaking state-meet records in Maryland (records that still stand in his name after more than a decade). His father Shive Gowda, himself a Mysore-born athlete who coached the 1988 Indian Olympic track team at Seoul before emigrating to the U.S., decided that the growing lad had greater things in store – literally, given the rate at which he was ramping up on and off the field in Frederick, just north of Washington DC. He was already looming over 6 feet plus in high school and breaking records in long jump, shot put, and discus. The father-son duo decided to focus on discus, cutting down the risk of injury that long jumpers are more prone to. Enrolling at UNC, whose students, alumni, and sports teams are known as “Tar Heels,” and which has a great sports tradition (most notably in basketball; alumni include Michael Jordan), Vikas won the highly-regarded NCAA (U.S National College Athletic Association) title in 2006 with a 60.35 meter throw. Most NCAA champs go on to greater things in sporting life.

It was a throw that echoed in distant India, which doesn’t have a great athletic tradition, to put it mildly. In fact, NCAA records are typically better than Indian national records; NCAA champions in tennis have routinely represented India (Somdev Devvarman and Harsh Mankad to name two), and their return provided a ready-made template for Gowda, who may otherwise have languished among thousands of track and field athletes in the U.S. Even so, graduating from collegiate level to Olympic heights (or distance) is a giant leap, notwithstanding Indian national titles that came easy. His first throw in Indian national colors in Doha, Qatar at the Asian Games in 2006 landed a sub-par 58.28m, yielding a disappointing sixth place. He did slightly better at the Beijing Olympics in 2008, throwing 60.69m to stand 11th in the qualifiers, and 22nd overall, but still a long way from the medals podium. In between the two events, he threw a 64.96 meters in Salinas, California to create a new Indian national record. The discerning recognized that this Indian-American kid had it in him.

It now needed something extra-ordinary to propel him to the next stage, a third-stage booster – not steroid-driven, but perhaps… cryogenic? It was available not in the cool climes of the east coast but in the blazing hot landscape of Arizona.

The Holy Grail in discus throw is 70 meters, a mark that was first achieved in 1976 by the American Mac Wilkins, but only rarely and intermittently reached since then. Likewise, in shot put, the magic mark is 22 meters, also first achieved in 1976 by Russian Alexander Baryshnikov but only sporadically bettered since then. John Godina was among the best at both, the first American to represent the U.S in Olympics in both discus throw and shot put since Bud Houser in 1924. Before his retirement in 2009 on account of injuries, Godina won a bagful of medals and titles, including two Olympic medals and three world championships. He had then gone on to open the World Throws Center, a state of art academy for shot put and discuss throwers on the cusp of greatness.

These gigs don’t come easy or cheap. Both the costs, and the labors involved, are astronomical, stratospheric. Only the best go there…to get better. There is equipment, apparel, nutrition, supplement, diets, physios and a whole gamut of inputs and outflows that those who celebrate victory or groan about lack of it never factor in from the comfort of their couch. For the Gowdas, it was an intimidating moment. Do they rest on existing laurels, a few state and national championships, an Asian medal or two, some modest awards at the Indian national and state levels? Or do they strive for the Olympian ideal and world stage glory, an endeavor that might pauperize them in one misplaced moment or muscle, amid all the blood, sweat, tears, and toil?

Shive Gowda made the call of his – and Vikas’ – life in 2010. His son would go to Arizona, and come hell or high water, he would try and raise the minimum of $ 120,000 a year it would take to keep him there. A manager at the PNC Bank (originally Pittsburgh National Corporation) that is now America’s 5th largest, he quit his job (with support from wife Vijaya who works for the federal government). They were not exactly penurious; in fact, the Gowdas’ had reasonable income from some real estate holdings. But this was a long-term million-dollar investment that may never have the kind of financial returns, even if the boy attained world standards; certainly not the kind of moolah cricketers raked in. This was investing in plain old athletic glory in a fairly low-profile discipline. Yet, Shive Gowda sought for his son a place in the athletic sun he himself was denied in India, where lack of facilities and finances barely kept him at Asian levels.

So calls were made, emails sent, letters drafted to a host of people, from friends and family to governments and institutions. There were some pledges and promises, but it was always short of need or simply not honored. The Gowdas’ home state of Karnataka ponied up Rs 50 lakhs (doubtless to some whining from doubters and considerable politicking) during the chief ministership of Sadanand Gowda, but it was barely enough for a year. The sports world driven Olympic Medal Quest (OMQ) India then committed to back him, but the money was yet to flow in regularly; it does now, but it is chump change compared to what Vikas would really need to make it the very top and remain there consistently.

As it turned out, Godina’s work with Vikas in Arizona began to show immediately. Vikas threw 63 meters plus at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou and at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi to snag a bronze and silver respectively. He crossed 64 meters at the 2011 World Championships in Daegu, South Korea, to stand at 7th place. Amid high hopes in London at the 2012 Olympics, he went up to 64.79 meters, but came in only 8th, creditable, but not medal-worthy. A 64.90 followed last year in Pune, and although it fetched gold, it was just an Asian Championship. The Big Bhimas were all in Europe and America.

Then, he medaled at the IAAF Diamond League in the New York Grand Prix, a 64.86 fetching him a bronze amid the superstars of the event, although no one got anywhere near 70. It was the first ever medal for an Indian at such an elite event; he was consistently doing mid-60s, but the big one still eluded him. So did commercial contracts and financial backing. That ka-ching! you heard…that was all for the IPL and cricket, where the “greats” earned $ 120,000 for a night’s work, hitting a five and half ounce (155 gms) ball over shortened 60-yard boundary.

Back in our old neck of the woods close to Washington DC, I often wondered when and where Vikas’ big one would come. I had spoken to Shive Gowda going back to Vikas’ college days and knew the big boy was capable of 66 meters, which he often hit in trials and practice (A thrower is allowed six throws, and best of them is taken into account; most often, they foul a few as they try and extract every millimeter and every ounce of space and strength). In fact, Vikas’ personal best was 66.90 in 2013; he had also thrown a 66.28 in Norman, Oklahoma in the 2012 Old Style Challenge. Anything in that range could land him a gold at the Commonwealth in Glasgow, one of his marquee athletic events for 2014.

As it turned out, he was nowhere near his best – but still landed gold. He came to Glasgow as one of the favorites, having the 16th-best throw in the world this year (65.62). He qualified for the final comfortably on Wednesday with 64.32 throw, but his winning effort in the final was lower –an even more modest 63.64 meters. The Commonwealth competition had a melted away, leaving him with Gold even though he was below-par.

Such things happen in track and field. You don’t have to break the world record to win the Gold medal. You just have to be better than others on the day. Astonishingly, it is only India’s second track and field gold at the Commonwealth games, and the first in 56 years after Milkha Singh won one in 1958. Do you wonder if some day, someone will make a movie titled, Throw Vikas Throw?

It is not a thought that fills Vikas with exhilaration, although he is happy to have won the gold for India. At the back of his mind, he knows he has, and could have, done better. Even more, he knows that to get among the medals at the upcoming Olympics in Rio, he needs to head up past the 67m mark towards the 70m mark. “I know I can do it…Godina has been good for me…look at my progression since I went to Arizona,” he tells me when I reach him over phone in London.” He sounds tired but determined; the CWG is done and dusted and now he has to think of the next big event, one of the 20 or so he attends each year to stay in the loop, on song, and in form. In the background I hear Shive Gowda, also sounding tired, fielding other calls and making travel arrangements. Their fatigue is temporary. The discus event ended at 8.30 previous night,. and by the time Vikas finished with the dope test and paper work, it was 11.30 p.m. Then there were congratulatory e-mails and calls to be attended to, and it was close to 2 a.m. when he flopped into bed bone-tired. There was no time for a victory party, much less a parade; not even a celebratory meal.